


Anemone

by suncityblues



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, I blame all those beautiful modern AU photosets on tumblr, I think an accurate description of this would also be hipster AU, Kylo Ren Being a Little Shit, M/M, Math Nerd Hux, Musician Kylo, TWs: drinking, loss of a grandparent
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-28
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2018-05-23 19:35:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6127837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suncityblues/pseuds/suncityblues
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Modern AU in which Kylo Ren is a musician trying to get his band off the ground and his roommate Hux just wants to make it through grad school with fully intact hearing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 123

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be a quick fic between chapters of All That Exists but looks like it'll be a two parter, whoops.

**one.**

Rey is all sunshine and daisies when she says, "He's a truly awful man, an absolute terror so I'm sure you'll have loads in common. Plus, he can move in soon!"

Kylo doesn’t find her amusing, and certainly doesn't think he needs a roommate but it's an conversation they've had before and he knows better than to try and interrupt his cousin when she's on a roll. Instead he listlessly stirs too much sugar into his tea and makes believe he's alone. 

"His name is, uh, something Hux. Everyone just calls him Hux anyway, and he's Finn’s old boss. He got kicked out of his old place by his ex or something and... are you even listening to me?"

"Trying not to" Kylo says more to his tea than to her.   
He has a hangover from the previous night and this is not helping.

Rey glares at him but she's never been one to give up.  
She changes tactics and continues more forcefully than before, "you can’t just live in this old house by yourself, Ben." It reminds vaguely him of his mother. 

"Kylo" Kylo corrects, though he's just deflecting. His family will never learn to call him Kylo no matter how many times he asks and he's bitterly aware of this.

"Fine. You can't live in Vader's house by yourself, _Ky-lo"_  she amends, though he can tell she’s not happy about it. "It’s not healthy to be alone all the time, and how are you supposed to pay taxes or feed yourself with no income?"

He resents her concern and finds it patronizing. He wants to shout at her that he plays live music at bars on the weekends and they do pay him, most of the time. It's not a lot but it is something that he earns himself without his family's help or approval and that's important to him.

It sounds pathetic and childish even in his head so he says nothing. 

Besides, she can give as good as she gets and he doesn't need a screaming match so early in the morning, especially with his head pounding and his stomach feeling queasy. He suspects that's why Rey likes to show up so early in the morning-- he's usually hungover and miserable before the afternoon and more concerned with trying to keep down greasy eggs than defending his honor against a cousin poisoned by his parent's righteousness.

Rey must notice he's getting to the end of his rope and decides to cut her losses. She puts her empty tea cup on the counter next to the sink that's already overflowing with dishes and grabs her jacket.

"School taxes are two thousand dollars a year here, Kylo Ren. You have two grand laying around?"

Kylo continues to say nothing. Of course he doesn’t have that much money, and if he did it would go to a new guitar or studio time.

Rey's eyes glitter. Kylo knows she knows she's won for the most part. He always has Snoke to go to in a pinch, but two thousand dollars is a lot to ask from someone, even a person as kind and supportive as Snoke.   
  
"Hux is coming to see the place this afternoon. Do the dishes and don't be a dick to him until after he's signed the lease, please" she's saying as she runs towards the door, shutting it just in time to miss the ceramic mug Kylo’s thrown at her.

"Three o'clock" She yells from the other side of the door. 

 

**two.**

 

When Hux arrives there are still dishes in the sink and broken ceramic by the door.

Kylo ignores the knocking for the first few minutes, plucking at his guitar and hoping Hux will just go away. It doesn't work and it gets distracting so finally Kylo shoves his guitar aside and storms down the hallway with the full intention of telling Hux or whomever else to fuck off.

But the door opens on a well dressed young man with red hair and bright green eyes holding what looks like an envelope full of cash.

"I'm Hux. Here's the money your, uh, cousin told me to bring," the red headed stranger is saying in an accent that vaguely reminds Ren of Rey.

He is momentarily floored, first by Hux himself and then by Hux's money. He takes the envelope and peeks into it, not sure what else to do. It's a lot.

"First month, last month, and security" Hux tells him as he shoves past Ren and into the house.

He has no idea how to show an apartment but he's pretty sure this isn't quite right.  
  
"Don't you want to see the place first?" Kylo asks, suddenly concerned that he'd have to give the money back as he watches Hux step tenderly over a broken bit of mug.

"Not really" is Hux’s reply, "It looks like an absolute shit hole but the rent is cheap, it's close to the university, and I don't exactly have a lot of options at the moment. When can I move in?"

Kylo Ren is caught between being annoyed with this man for critiquing his house, however accurately, and wanting to casually ask how much Rey decided the rent was.

He thinks about what he could buy with the money and decides it won’t be the worst thing in the world to have someone around as long as they paid for things. He runs a hand through his hair and says, "You can move in now, I guess?" 

Hux gives him a smile that is clearly forced and says, "Oh, perfect. I’ll be right back."

Not sure what to make of that, Kylo walks back into the house, up the stairs and props open the door of the room that used to be his mother's when she was very young but is now just a dusty guest room.

He supposes this will do well enough for Hux, it's got good sunlight as he recalls, and is far enough from the master bedroom where Kylo sleeps that they won't disturb each other much in the night.

For a moment Kylo thinks this will be easy. He'll collect money every month and otherwise never socialize with Hux when he's home, it'll be fine.

He just has to figure out what Rey decided to charge for the room.

 

**three.**

 

He was not expecting the cat, however.

It's a short haired orange thing named Millicent and it violently detests Kylo Ren. Every time he walks into a room the cat's tail expands to twice the normal size and it immediately darts under some piece of furniture.

Ren's pretty sure the feeling is mutual.

Millicent is the only reminder of Hux even being there at first. The house is still a mess and his band, the Knights, still practices in the living room four or five times a week with no complaints. From what Kylo can tell Hux is always either hiding in his room or else pulling all nighters at the university. 

He's not sure, they never really talked since Hux moved in but he thinks Hux does something with engineering, considering the blueprints and small mechanical trinkets sometimes propped outside his mother's old bedroom.

 

It's not until the third week of living together that anything changes. It's so late on a Friday night that it's probably well into Saturday and Kylo is only just getting home from a recent acoustic gig at one of the college bars around town. No one really listened to the music, though a drunk lady had danced and several polite people had clapped at the end of each song.

Overall, not his worst show, and besides, he got some money and a few free drinks.

Kylo buys himself a twelve pack of cheap beer at a gas station just before the blue laws kick in and heads home to get drunk and listen to some of his grandfather's vinyl like most weekends when he's not out with his band. He's never been much for partying, he's always had a hard time connecting with people, letting loose, and enjoying himself so an upside to his solo gigs is getting to avid any afterparties.

He's surprised to find Hux already in the living room when he gets home though, passed out with the cat on his stomach and his shirt riding up just slightly.

There are pages and pages of math looking gibberish spread around the coffee table and the record player is making a soft crackling sound that means the album needs to be flipped.

Something in Kylo feels vaguely betrayed, as he stands there staring at his new roommate. Those were his things Hux was touching. And Kylo knows it's irrational to think that Hux would never use the living room; never touch the record player when the only television in the house is busted and the wifi is spotty and stolen from a neighbor but he's still wildly unhappy about it.

He intentionally slams the door between the kitchen and front hallway. Millicent hisses and darts off of Hux, waking him up, and a vicious part of Kylo hopes she got a good scratch or two in on the way. 

Kylo doesn't apologize when Hux sits up on his elbows, hair and clothes a mess. Hux gives him a dirty look which makes Kylo feel better, though he knows he's being petty.

He wants to break something, but he always wants to break something.

"Was your gig good, then?" Hux mumbles sleepily and gestures to the twelve pack, "you always buy those when you’re in a good mood." He says "good mood" like it's a private joke he has with himself. 

Kylo's caught off guard by the question, surprised that Hux would have picked up on anything about him when he barely noticed the other man was there.

"Not really" Kylo admits, "but it was acoustic so I got to keep all the money."

"Huh" comes Hux as he adjusts himself into a sitting position "can I have a beer?"

Kylo figures there's nothing for it, he puts the beer and his guitar down and goes to flip the album. It's some blues guy Kylo'd never been interested in, but is too tired to find a replacement for.

"No, and don't touch my albums anymore" Kylo snaps as the music starts up again.

"Sure, sure" Hux agrees dismissively even as he opens a beer anyway.  
Kylo is surprised to find that he's not furious about it, even a little bit. He normally hates sharing but there's something about Hux's stubbornness that feels familiar. Like Rey, in some ways, Hux seems to find the word "no" to be, at most, a suggestion. 

"Magic Sam is great, I'm surprised you had this album, not a ton of people know him and so much of your collection is complete shit" Hux is rambling, managing to sound both pretentious and dismissive at the same time. Kylo just frowns, unwilling to let Hux know that he actually has no idea who the musician is, or anything about him. He's not really surprised to find that he likes the album though, it was part of his grandfather's collection like most everything else in the house and Vader had good taste. 

Kylo sits next to Hux on the couch, and vaguely considers warning Hux about ever sitting in his grandfather's old chair but decides he'd sound too much like the monster from Beauty and the Beast if he does, or, worse, be asked about his feelings.

Instead, they drink their beers in comfortable silence, Kylo still full of energy from his show and Hux in a sleepy daze. Kylo has another beer and then another, and changes the record once it ends to the Talking Heads.

By the time he decides to ask Hux something, anything, why did you come here in the first place? What did Rey tell him? Who are you?  Hux is asleep again.


	2. Chapter 2

** four.  **

 

He wakes up hungover and alone on the couch. 

There is bright midmorning sun coming in through the windows and the smell of coffee from the kitchen. It reminds Kylo of a far distant past, a time when Vader was still alive and he was still called Ben. Everyday before school he’d make a pot of coffee and then get the newspaper for his grandfather until Vader’s breathing got so bad his lips where permanently tinged blue, and he could barely keep anything down, and Kylo was forced to call his mom and uncle for help.

Ever since then Ren has kept mostly to strong black tea in the mornings. 

His back aches when he gets off the couch and he considers heading straight up stairs to sleep the rest of the morning away in his bed but thinks better of it. He's supposed to practice with his band in the afternoon and his sleep schedule is messed up as-is. 

Instead he follows the smell of coffee into the kitchen. Hux is there, showered and fully dressed, looking nothing like the oddly approachable, drowsy nerd he was last night. He’s drinking a cup of coffee and ignoring a muffin in favor of a tablet with what appears to be a schematic on it. 

They do not say good morning to each other while Kylo puts tea on and rams a frozen pastry into the toaster oven. 

Kylo can’t think of a point before this when they’d both been in the kitchen at the same time. Neither of them are really the type to cook and Hux is normally up and out of the house well before Kylo wakes up. 

After a long uncomfortable moment Hux downs his coffee and makes to leave and Kylo remembers last night. He thinks he might have gone temporarily insane but he doesn’t want Hux to go. He’s curious. 

He asks “Do you ever stop working?”  
It comes out accusatory and rude which is Kylo’s comfort zone. 

 Hux arches an eyebrow at him.  
“Ideally, I’d never have to” he intones, “do you think you’ll ever start working?” 

Kylo wants to throw something at Hux’s head though he’s aware that it’s his fault they’re currently arguing. He’s never been good at conversation.

He snaps, “You know I play music.” 

 “Yeah, who knew playing 90’s covers for frat boys allowed for such a lavish lifestyle” Hux makes a gesture to the filthy sink, the unswept floors, the garbage bin full of beer cans and take out containers. 

 Kylo can feel his face getting a little red. He thinks about yelling, or throwing a tantrum, but he knows Hux isn’t afraid of him. He settles for pouring his tea and then slamming the kettle down on the stove.

"Fuck off" he says. 

Hux snorts. 

“You can leave any time you want” Kylo grinds out, “since you seem to have so many options.” 

Hux goes silent for a long time after that. 

He grabs his muffin and his bag, washes his coffee cup out, and goes to leave.

  
“Just clean up after yourself” Hux says in a strained voice before he walks out the door. 

Kylo sits down with his pastry, unused to winning an argument and oddly giddy about it. 

Then he does the dishes. 

 

** five.  **

 

He also sweeps the floors, vacuums the living room, takes the garbage out, and finally throws away the broken ceramic mug by the door. 

Rey shows up while he’s cleaning out the downstairs bathroom. She makes a whistling sound that he guesses means she’s pleased with what she sees. 

“This place looks great!” She chirps, “I told you having a roommate wouldn’t be so bad.” 

He’s not sure he sees the correlation between the two. 

“Hux is a pretentious workaholic who is impossible to live with” Kylo huffs out, “And I’m cleaning because I hate him.” 

Rey arches an eyebrow but wisely doesn't ask for clarification. 

“Well” she volunteers, always one to see the best in people, “The engineering program here is supposed to be ridiculously hard, and it’s almost the end of the semester. Plus Finn says Hux works like six days a week for that Snoke man, so he’s probably just burnt out. I bet you hardly ever even see him!” 

The way she says “Snoke” makes it clear she doesn’t think kindly of him, which is a matter of major contention between Kylo and his family. 

The two cousins have a cease fire, however tentative that is based on neither of them ever brining up Vader, Kylo’s parents, Luke, Snoke, or just about anything that happened before Kylo turned sixteen. They have very few safe topics and they do not see each other on holidays. 

Kylo has only a few people in this world and Rey happens to be one of them so he chooses to ignore her tone of voice rather than let his discomfort snowball into a full blown destructive argument. 

Besides, Snoke doesn’t speak too kindly of her family either. 

“Anyway” Rey is continuing with a smile on her face, “If you really didn’t like living with Hux you would have driven him out weeks ago.” 

Kylo sighs.  
He can’t really say that it’s been more than mildly strange living with a red headed ghost and his cat, and that he almost wants to get to know that man better but he’d rather pull a tooth out than admit it to Rey. 

“I think you might like him” she sing-songs.

  
He throws a sponge at her. 

 

** six.  **

 

Kylo doesn’t see Hux for four days after their fight, though the cat gets fed so Kylo knows Hux must just be avoiding him. 

He starts to feel guilty, then angry at Hux for making him feel guilty, then a little worried that Hux had moved out after all or at least is planning to. He continues to spiral through emotions until sometime on the fifth day when he finds a bag of books and a pair of muddy boots discarded by the front door on his way out to set up for yet another under paying gig, a sure sign that Hux is home. 

 He realizes a bit sheepishly that maybe Hux’s disappearance was not about him at all but because it’s finals at the university and Hux is clearly an anal retentive overachiever. 

He doesn’t want to think about why he does it but he puts his guitar case down the wanders back up the stairs. Hux’s door is always closed but Kylo can hear some music coming from inside. He knocks gently, then harder when he gets no answer until finally a tired looking Hux answers the door. Millicent hisses at Kylo and skitters under the bed. 

“What?” Hux snaps. 

Kylo is nonplussed. He’s used to being snapped at. 

“Come to my show tonight” he says. It comes out demanding and childish. “It’s at that pub on west 3rd street, The Blue Lion. We go on at 9.” 

Hux squints at him like Ren's just grown an extra head. 

“If I tell you I’ll go will that make you leave my room?” he doesn’t sound angry anymore, just confused.   


Snoke had told Kylo a long time ago that he always seems to fall back on angry or insulting language when he's uncomfortable because it's safer. He thinks Hux might be the same way. He makes a mental note to ask Snoke how long he's worked with Hux and what he knows.    
  
For the time being however, Ren just says "Yes." 

“Then sure, I’ll go.”

Kylo doubts it but he’s too nervous to press any harder. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been... forever since I've updated. Honestly it's been forever since I even wrote anything, sorry for making you wait. I am going to try and finish up my stories, and maybe try to write more if I have time. 
> 
> Thank you for your patience!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! And for any feedback as well :)  
> I'm suncityblues on tumblr


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